History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

Tag Archives | My Lai massacre

Violence at home, violence abroad – creative and lived African-American reactions to the My Lai Massacre

This is the first of two blogs by UoP second-year history student Gabriel Lawless, reflecting  on the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam.  This blog, drawing on oral histories, poetry, and political writing, explores how African-American voices interpreted and responded to the My Lai Massacre and the Fall of Saigon not as isolated incidents, but as part of a wider, politically entrenched pattern of violence. The exposure of the My Lai Massacre in 1969 to the civilian masses marked a decisive turning point in public perception of the Vietnam War. Reports that American soldiers had supposedly killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians came as a shock to those in the […]

Continue Reading 0